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Thursday, September 22, 2016

Jim Jatras — the oligarchy is losing its grip, but its death throes may prove fatal – to us

There is also grave, perhaps growing, danger. The Deep State’s servitors and beneficiaries could risk a major war in a desperate bid to save their wealth, power, and privileges—with dire consequences for America and the world. Most people may be inclined to dismiss the idea of “kickstarting World War III” as alarmism, if not conspiracy-mongering. Maybe that is the case.…

But maybe not.

Probably no one is going to "start WWIII" intentionally at that this point. However, events have a way of getting out of control and every action has intended consequences as well as mistakes, errors of judgment, and accidents. Poking sticks into the liars of bears and dragons is not a good idea.

The so-called “liberal” parties, such as Yabloko and Parnas, were disadvantaged and wrong-footed going into these elections because they were seen to be unpatriotic if not treasonous with regard to their foreign policy positions. The rise in patriotic mood following the Russian reunification with Crimea in March 2014 set a new tone for Russian political life to which the “liberal” parties with their pro-Western, pro-American bias were totally at odds. Every party that made it into the Duma held “Crimea is Ours” slogans. The “liberals” did not, could not, and so marginalized themselves on Sept. 18.

This is really not headed in a good direction and recent events in Syria have greatly exacerbated the situation. These are parlous times, and we may not make in to the election without a significant "incident." War clouds are looming, and the drums of war are being beaten in the background.

I would say it began on 9/11. Osama provoked what he sought — US imperial overreach that will bring down the hegemon, or be the end of us all.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inshallah"> Inshallah</a>.

Suppose a libertarian was elected in Nov. The US pulls out of everywhere and minds its own business for the next 8 years. Is the world better off one year down the road? 10 years? I have no clue. I'd like to think the US would be better off, but I don't know what the domestic or foreign impact beyond the immediate consequences of base closures and blowback from allies and The MIC.